Where do normal kids go to college?
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Anonymous
Not getting into Wake, Miami or Tulane with average rigor and grades, ED or not. You all are seriously out of touch. |
Anonymous
I know you were probably being sarcastic, but our daughter has Radford as a top choice. It is a lovely campus with very nice facilities. They are building a gorgeous new arts facility that has my daughter VERY excited. The gym/exercise facility is also really great - 3 floors of exercise equipment. I went to an accepted student reception in Fairfax last night and had nice conversations with a student and several admissions folks. The new-ish president really seems to be doing good things to expand social/rec offerings for their students, including working out a deal with Tech for a Radford student section at Tech home football games. Another school that many here poo poo but really is a decent option for most students is ODU. We went to an admissions event back in October and actually had a lot of fun! Nice campus and nice students. Lots of diversity. Plenty to do nearby. I recommend people taking a look. |
Anonymous
+2 No way Wake, Miami or Tulane for average rigor and grades. You haven’t been paying attention in the last 3 years. |
Anonymous
These are two good options. Tack on Roanoke and Lynchburg. Soooo many more. |
Anonymous
Private or public high school? |
Anonymous
| Everywhere. Kids are “normal” regardless of their grades or achievements. |
Anonymous
At our private you are…. |
Anonymous
| A ton of schools. Some suggestions Bates, Denison, Wilamette, Fordham, Syracuse, University of Vermont, WPI, Boulder, University of Denver, SMU, TCU, University of Oregon, Oregon State, University of Tennessee, University of Kansas, Arizona State, Gonzaga, Franklin & Marshall, Elon, Marist, College of Charleston |
Anonymous
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There are lots of decent private options in VA. W&L and Richmond are probably reaches, but there are quite a few more that usually give very nice merit.
Shenandoah is not very far from DC area and worth a look. I have heard good things about Randolph Macon, Virginia Wesleyan and Emory & Henry. Randolph, which is a very small school in Lynchburg, has a curriculum model called Take2 which has it my my child’s top couple choices. |
Anonymous
| Anywhere that has an 90%+ acceptance rate. |
Anonymous
Exactly, because if there’s one thing college students hate, it’s parties. |
Anonymous
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There are lots of in state colleges for normal students OP:
Radford, Longwood, ODU, VCU, Mary Baldwin, Roanoke, Hollins, Randolph Macon, St Marys in MD, Frostburg, Towson, UMBC. |
Anonymous
| Normal college kids go to "directional" state universities. North Central State. Eastern or Central Carolina. Frostburg State. Fitchburg State. Montclair State. VCU/ODU/CNU. |
Anonymous
It’s tough to get the full effect of your comment without being able to see your sneer. |
Anonymous
+1,000 I apologize for the length of this post, but I've been lurking on this forum for about a week, seeking information, and finally felt compelled to share my thoughts. I have no issue with parents wanting the absolute best opportunities for their children. God knows I do, and there's nothing inherently wrong with both valuing and pursuing a T-50 institution personally or for your child. Generally - or certainly on this forum however - there seems to be a particularly strong focus on those institutions, sometimes to the complete disrespect of anything else. I've lived in the DC region since 1993, but grew up in Philadelphia in a solidly middle class family with first-generation college graduate parents. The two areas couldn't be any different. Few of my closest neighborhood friends graduated from college, and my family would've been just as proud if I went to East Stroudsburg or UPenn. Some might call that a low bar. We just view it as casting a much wider net to the end of what makes one successful. I'm no mathematician, but of all the college students in this country, my guess is that less than 10% attend T-50 institutions. Are the rest of those colleges, where the majority of our children attend, garbage and not worthy of attending for those whom they may be the only option? Neither life nor success is linear, so we can't act like only high-achieving kids who attend the most highly regarded institutions, are the only people who will ultimately be successful. I graduated from a T-25 state flagship, and got my masters degree from a T-25 private. I have done well in my career (professionally and from an earnings perspective), but I have friends and former classmates who've done "better" in those categories. Of the most successful folks I've worked with, almost none graduated from schools with the prestige of my alma maters. The CEO of a former employer graduated from a SUNY school. Another went to Louisville, and another, the University of Richmond. My current boss graduated from Miami of Ohio, and past bosses/colleagues have graduated from JMU, Frostburg, and small directional state schools in the midwest. There's no question that prestigious schools can open doors but the most successful people, the real achievers and impact-makers, are those one's who work their tails off, and make the absolute most of every opportunity that they have. Our second and youngest is currently sweating out the RD college acceptance season (actually, we are probably more than them). They (using the non-binary term only to protect their identity) have a 3.2 GPA, 1200 SATs, and documented challenges with ADD and executive functioning (they had an IEP since 7th grade). They have two acceptances in hand - one from a small in-state school; one from a mid-tier private in the Northeast with substantial merit $; one waitlist from a large state school; and three rejections from a large sought after in-state school, a large OOS, and a selective STEM-focused private in the Northeast that we knew was a stretch. They are awaiting what we think is their first choice - another STEM-focused private in the Northeast, and another large in-state. They are exceptionally bright and more importantly, an exceptional person in every aspect (kind, respectful, hard-working, honest, independent thinker, values family). They have yet to figure out who they are, and how to tap into their full potential. Our message to them is that wherever you end up, that is where you should be, and do everything you can to maximize the opportunity. Its not about groupthink, and I certainly don't believe that we all must value and pursue the same things for ourselves and our families. But I do believe that for our kids sake, we should evangelize a far less narrow definition of, and potential path to, success. |